SPOKANE, Wash.—The Puget Sound women's basketball squad found themselves tied at 53 with 15 minutes left, but host Whitworth pulled away midway in the second half to win a Northwest Conference matchup 83-74 Saturday night at Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Whitworth led for the entire first half, taking a seven-point lead six minutes into the contest. The hosts extended their lead to 13 in the next two and a half minutes, and then they found themselves ahead by a 17-point margin after hitting a pair of free throws at the 6:24 mark in the first half.

The Loggers immediately went to work on cutting down that lead, with Erin Stumbaugh hitting a three point field goal to jump start a Logger run. Including Stumbagugh's three-pointer, the Loggers embarked on a 13-4 stretch to come within eight at 37-29 with less than four minutes remaining in the period. The teams essentially traded points until the end of the half, which Stumbaugh finished with another three-pointer to bring the Loggers within six at 46-40 at halftime.

After the Pirates opened the second half with a pair of free-throws, the Loggers scored 11 points in the next five minutes of game action while holding to the Pirates to just five. With 14:57 left in regulation, Emily Sheldon netted a layup to even the game at 53 for the game's first tie score since it started.

Unfortunately for the Loggers, Whitworth scored the next eight points to take the lead for good. Katy Ainslie stopped the Pirate run with a pair of free throws at the 12:06 mark, and Sheldon netted two shots from the charity stripe just before the midway point of the half to bring Puget Sound within five. That would be the closest the Loggers would get for the rest of the game, however, as the Pirates re-established a double-digit lead with nearly eight minutes remaining. They also survived another Logger comeback attempt when they came within six with 6:18 left in regulation.

With 33 seconds remaining in the second, Whitworth scored their final point, taking an 83-71 lead. A three-ball from Amanda Forshay brought the Loggers within nine at 83-74, but that's where the score stayed as the Loggers could not pull off another shot in the final 16 seconds.

Forshay once again was the leading scorer for Puget Sound, netting 18 points on the Loggers' behalf. She also was the squad's leading rebounder, bringing in eight boards on the night. Ainslie and Sheldon both hit double-digits as well, with Ainslie scoring 11 and Sheldon netting 10 points in the loss. Whitworth's Kayla Johnson led all scorers with 27 points, and KC McConnell matched Forshay's rebounding mark with eight.

As a team, the Loggers hit 23 field goals in 54 attempts for a 42.6% average. They also saw their second-best performance from beyond the arc this season, draining eight of 14 three-balls for a 57.1% average. The difference came in turnovers and free throws, however as Whitworth forced 14 turnovers and made 29 free-throws while the visiting Loggers forced eight turnovers and got to the line just 24 times total, making 20 of those free shots.

Puget Sound (8-5, 1-3 NWC) now hopes that some home cooking does the squad good on Tuesday, January 14, as they take on cross-town rival Pacific Lutheran. That contest will tip off at 6:00 p.m. at Memorial Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Puget Sound.